Report to/Rapport au: Local
Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee/
Comité consultatif local sur la conservation de l’architecture
Planning and Development
Committee
Comité de l’urbanisme et de l’aménagement
and Council/au Conseil
Submitted by/Soumis par: Edward Robinson, Commissioner/Commissaire,
Department of Urban Planning and Public Works/Service de l’urbanisme et
des travaux publics,
Planning Branch/Direction de
l’urbanisme
Prepared by/Préparé par: Sally
Coutts, Heritage Planner/Urbaniste chargé du patrimoine, Current
Planning Division/Division des projets d’urbanisme en cours
244-5300
ext. 1-3474 couttss@city.ottawa.on.ca
Ward/Quartier:
12 Rideau-Vanier |
Ref N°: ACS2000-PW-PLN-0183 |
SUBJECT/OBJET: |
ONTARIO
HERITAGE ACT, DEMOLITION – 126 RIDEAU STREET/LOI SUR LE PATRIMOINE DE
L’ONTARIO – DÉMOLITION – 126, RUE RIDEAU
FILE: OHD4300 RIDEAU 126 |
Application to Demolish the
former Ogilvy’s Department Store, 126 Rideau Street, a building protected under
Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act.
Demande en vue de démolir l’ancien magasin Ogilvy, 126, rue Rideau, un
immeuble protégé en vertu de la partie IV de la Loi sur le patrimoine de
l’Ontario.
REPORT
RECOMMENDATION(S)
That the application to demolish the former Ogilvy’s Department Store,
a building protected under Part IV of
the Ontario Heritage Act, received by the City of Ottawa on November 9, 2000 be
REFUSED.
< The Committee concurs and so recommends.
Reasons
Behind Recommendation
The
Department of Urban Planning and Public Works recommends that Viking Rideau
Corporation be refused permission to demolish the former Ogilvy’s Department
Store. On October 4, 2000 Council unanimously supported the Department’s
recommendation to designate the building under the Ontario Heritage Act,
thereby acknowledging the importance of the building not only to the character
of Rideau Street but also to the City of Ottawa. Because of this, permission to
demolish under the Ontario Heritage Act should not be granted.
Although
City Council has passed an “Intention to Designate”, a designation by-law has
not yet been passed. This is because the Ontario Heritage Act requires that a
“Notice of Intent to Designate” be published in the newspaper after City
Council recommends designation. The “Notice” enables affected parties to file
an objection to the designation within 30 days of the publication of the
“Notice.” In this case, objections were to be received by November 20,2000. The
owner of the property, Viking Rideau Corporation, filed its objection to the designation on November 20, 2000 and a
Conservation Review Board hearing will be held in the new year. Until the hearing,
the property is protected under Part IV of the Act as if the designation by-law
had been passed.
DISCUSSION OR ANALYSIS
The
Department of Urban Planning and Public Works’ recommendation to refuse to
permit the demolition of the building
complies with the City of Ottawa Official Plan, Central Area Chapter, Strategic
Approach, Section 5.3.8 which states that it is the strategic aim of City
Council to:
“Recognize the significance of the Central Area’s
heritage resources in serving as a source and reminder of Ottawa’s original
settlement, its early built form and identity..."
Further
policies in the Central Area chapter also stress the importance of maintaining
the area’s heritage resources, such as Urban Design policy 5.6.2b):
“City Council shall conserve and enhance the Central
Area’s heritage resources, including buildings, structures, sites, areas and
landscape elements having architectural, historical, cultural and/or
environmental significance.”
The
Official Plan further outlines its aims for Rideau Street itself in the Rideau
Street Theme Street policies. The preservation of heritage resources is an
important component of this.
Policy 1.12.3c) relates directly to these heritage
resources:
“City Council shall ensure the protection, conservation and enhancement of heritage resources on Rideau Street, and shall ensure that the design of development respects and is sensitive to, such heritage features...” (Note: the policies included in the Secondary Policy Plan have been approved by City Council but are currently deferred. A report lifting their deferral is scheduled to go to the new City Council in late January 2001 whereupon the deferral will be lifted.)
All
of the above policies, and City
Council’s recent designation of the building, clearly indicate that its
demolition should not be permitted.
CONSULTATION
The
owner of the property, Viking Rideau Corporation, is aware of the position of
the Department of Urban Planning and Public Works on the proposed demolition.
Adjacent
property owners as well as local businesses and business associations were
notified by letter of the date of the LACAC meeting, were provided with comment
sheets to be returned to LACAC and will be informed of the date of the new
Planning Committee meeting. This is in accordance with City Council’s public
participation policy regarding heritage demolitions.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
N/A
ATTACHMENTS
Document 2 - Statement of Reason for Designation, approved by City Council on October 4, 2000.
Document
3 - Photographs
DISPOSITION
The
Department of Corporate Services, Statutory Services Branch to notify the owner
(D.A. Maclellan, Viking Rideau Corporation, 50 Rideau Street, Ottawa, Ontario,
K1N 9J7) and the Ontario Heritage Foundation (10 Adelaide Street East, 3rd
Floor, Toronto, Ontario, M5C 1J3) of City Council’s decision.
Document 2
STATEMENT
OF REASON FOR DESIGNATION
The
former Ogilvy’s Department Store has both historical and architectural significance.
It was built by Charles Ogilvy in 1906-1907, with additions in 1917, 1931 and
1934. Born in 1861, Ogilvy emigrated to
Canada from Scotland in 1863, immediately moving to Ottawa where his father
opened a stationery shop. Ogilvy began
his career at the firm of Elliott and Hamilton, Dry Goods. In 1887, Ogilvy left that firm to establish
his own dry goods shop on Rideau Street.
By 1906 he had prospered sufficiently to build a new store. Business continued to grow and Ogilvy's
eventually became a flourishing department store with branches in Ottawa's
suburbs. This evolution parallels the
North America-wide development of the department store as the most important
retail phenomenon of the late 19th and 20th centuries. Ottawa was unique among Canadian cities
because its two leading local department stores, Ogilvy's and Freiman's, were
sufficiently successful to discourage the entry of national chains into the
city until the 1960s.
Ogilvy's
was built in four stages. The original
dry goods store, designed by prominent Ottawa architect W.E. Noffke and
completed in 1907, was a rectangular structure with five bays facing Rideau
Street and seven bays facing Nicholas Street.
In 1917, it was extended back eight more bays to Besserer Street, also
to plans by Noffke. The fourth and
fifth floors, designed by Ottawa architect A.J. Hazelgrove, were added in 1931
and 1933 respectively. The addition of
the top two storeys and the resulting removal of the original third floor
cornice transformed Ogilvy's from a conservative design to a modern design more
typical of 1930s commercial architecture.
The
building is a large, flat-roofed, rectangular buff-coloured brick, steel-framed
structure, highly regular in style and detail.
Character-defining features of the building include the use of the Greek
key motif on the spandrel panels and secondary cornice, the metal cornice, the
wood-framed windows, the "Tree of Life" panels and the distinctive
rounded northeast corner. Its prominent corner location, anchoring the end of
an important block of Rideau Street, also contributes to its heritage value.
The
interior of the building, the interior’s structure and the west facade are not
included in this designation.
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